Chicco Polly Highchair Review

The Chicco Polly highchair is attractive, sturdy and comfortable for your baby. The 5-point harness and t-bar keep a baby securely in the highchair during meals. This high chair will fold fairly compactly and has plenty of height adjustments and other adjustable features, so it will work in a variety of situations. However, there are some drawbacks that might make it annoying for some families. The placement of the t-bar makes it impossible to set the tray flat, and there are enough crevices that collect foods that it's difficult to keep the Chicco Polly highchair clean.

I love the look of the Chicco Polly highchair, and it has loads of adjustment spots so you can make it fit babies and toddlers in a wide variety of dining situations. Seven height adjustments let you feed your baby while sitting in a chair, and then quickly adjust so a toddler can sit up high next to a taller table. The three recline positions accommodate smaller (or sleepy) babies well, and the footrest angle and height can be changed for comfort even for long-legged toddlers.

The seat pad is very cushy, and is available in more than a dozen color and pattern combinations. Some models have a double pad, so you can wash one up without putting the high chair out of commission during laundry time. There are matching strap covers on the five-point harness.

The removable tray insert wipes clean easily. It's also dishwasher safe. However, that tray insert is pretty big, so unless you have an oversized dishwasher, or you're willing to use the entire bottom of the dishwasher to allow the tray to sit diagonally, you'll probably end up hand-washing it.

The tray itself is also generously sized. It slides off the high chair easily, but once it's off you can't sit it flat anywhere because the t-bar to keep baby from slipping out of the highchair is attached to the bottom of the tray. If there's any liquid or runny food on the tray, you will have to clean it before sitting it down anywhere, or the mess will slide off onto the table or floor.

The high chair pads are easy to wipe, but you will need to make sure that no food ends up between the pads on the double pad models, or you may end up with a smell issue. There are also some crevices along the armrests and on the baby-side of the tray that can collect food. A mere wipe with a cloth won't always clean those grooves out, so be prepared to spend some time scrubbing once your baby gets into the "painting with food" phase.

The compact fold is a fantastic feature of the Chicco Polly highchair. The legs fold in, the armrests pivot up, the tray stores on the back, and even the footrest can be removed, so the highchair has a pretty slim profile if need be. You definitely need to lock the caster wheels on the bottom when it's folded, or you can't lean the highchair against a wall, since the wheels will just roll away. I couldn't get the model I reviewed to stay locked all the time when it was folded. This wasn't a problem for simply leaning the highchair against a wall, but if you wanted to travel with it, having the legs flopping around could be annoying.

No high chair is perfect, and you'll have to work to keep almost any high chair clean. The potential cleaning issues are balanced by the fantastic adjustability, sturdiness and good looks. The biggest annoyance for me was the inability to lay that tray down somewhere flat.